The moment I saw her eyes change from green to pink, my heart almost stopped. Michael’s mouth opened and he closed her nose together. Her eyes turned from pink to black, well at least that could pass as her original color. He took his hand off of her nose and put her in my arms, he leaned closer to me.
“What just happened?” I’m too stunned to say anything so I just shrug. She looks up at me with green eyes, her face is so perfect. Her cheeks puffy and pink, her lips full and cracked. She doesn’t look like she’s about to cry, but I still rock her in my arms. Her eyes seem to close, but she’s just looking around. Her eyes settle on Michael and she gives a sniff. Her face scrunches up and a piercing sound escapes from her. The doctors take her away from me and put her in a plastic little cubby.
“Congratulations Mrs. Greene, do you have a name?” the doctor asks. I still don’t know his name until I look at his name tag. It says Wilson, I nod and me and Michael say together
“Elizabeth”. I look up at him to see him looking at Elizabeth in her cubby, she looks at him and for a small second I can see a toothless gummy smile. Before they start cleaning her off, as soon as the water touches her she starts to cry. Hmm, that’s weird, if she’s half sprite she should welcome water. Maybe she’s an earth sprite. I look to Michael and tap his arm, he looks down at me and I signal him to lean closer. When his ear is next to my mouth
“go outside and get some dirt by the tree’s come back in and give it to me” he doesn’t question, just gives me a light peck on the forehead and a nod. Before he leaves out he stops by Elizabeth, her eyes focus on him and he kisses her forehead too. She coo’s and he races out the doorway, there’s pinching on my stomach and I assume their sewing me up. I turn my head and look at Elizabeth, she looks at me and I smile. Her eyes are back to green and slowly the lids drop. ‘Goodnight sweetie’ I whisper before they fully close. Before I turn my head back I can swear I hear a faint
‘Goodnight mommy’.


Dirt? Why would she want dirt? True Elizabeth nearly popped a blood vessel when the water hit her but what does dirt has anything to do with that? She smells funny too, she has my scent but she also has that earthy, dew smell. It’s very confusing, I walk out to the tree’s and grab a handful of dirt where the trunk has hidden under the earth. I put it in my pocket and wipe my hands on my jeans. I don’t waste any time dilly-dallying around and just walk back in the hospital. I go to room 303 to find them both there, alexis holds elizbaeth in her arms and smiles. She see’s me and relief floods over her face,
“thank goodness, you took long enough”
“I tired to be quick” that was really fast. She takes my hand and puts in on elizabeths’ head, it’s burning. I look to Elizabeth in horror, is she going to die
“relax, just give me the dirt” alexis says flippantly. I take it out from my pocket slowly and put it into her hand. She takes it in her palm and holds it for a few seconds. She opens her palm and dabs her thumb with dirt, she wipes it on elizabeth’s forehead and cheeks” some of the redness goes out of elizabeths’ face and alex exhales. She looks up to me and I must have looked confused because she sighed,
“she’s an earth sprite, when the water hit her she didn’t like it because her natural element is earth.” She explained slowly I nod and she dumps the rest of the dirt into the trash can. She looks back up to me and smiles, she extends her arms to me, giving Elizabeth to me. I look into her calm brown eyes and cock my brow. She nods and extends them further, I tuck my hands under the baby’s arms and slowly lift her up. I hold her in the air for a minute and her eyes snap open, the green locks me in place, she sniffs and smiles, well what I think is a smile it’s all gummy and small. I bend my arm and put her head in the crook of it, she still looks at me with those green eyes, her little hands wave out in front of her until she reaches my face. She grips it and tries to pull, it doesn’t work but she has some razor sharp nails.
“hey, stop that” I say in the softest voice I can, she looks into my eyes and they turn clear blue. Her face scrunches up and she starts that screeching noise.
“dammit Michael” alex says, she holds out her hands and I give Elizabeth back, she looks at her
“it’s ok little one, he didn’t mean to scare you, he’s sorry” the crying stopped and her eyes turn back to green. I’m not going to be good at this, she’s going to cry every time I speak to her or hold her or feed her! Alex must have seen my worried expression
“hey I bet your tired, go ahead and lay down. We’ll still be here by the time you wake up” she says clamly. I nod and go to the cot in the room, I lay down, but keep my eyes on them. Slowly my eyelids get heavy and I dose off to sleep.


I was just starting to get used to this mother thing when she started crying again, her eyes were still green so I had no idea what was wrong. A nurse came in and took one look at the baby,
“she’s hungry, you’ll to feed her”
“oh so wheres the bottle?” I ask relieved, until she raised an eyebrow in amusement.
“you’ll have to breastfeed” she says, my mouth dries up
“I’m sorry, I have no idea how to do that, so if you could just get me a bottle I would really-“
“nope she has to be breast fed,” she walks over to me and lowers the neckline of my paper dress. She pushed my arms closer until elizabeths face was on my breast. My face was flaming,
“she’ll open her mouth and do the rest” she says simply before leaving. I look down and see Elizabeth looking up at me,
“well, if your hungry eat” I say to her. She opens her motuh and starts sucking, it feels so weird, I cant even describe it. If it isn’t embarrassing enough cora and john come in with balloons and teddy bears.
“well if it isn’t the little mommy,” cora says, her green eyes bright. She looks at the baby feeding and makes a puppy dog frown
“aww, so cute”
“yeah cute” I mumble, john puts down his balloons and tries to look everywhere but me. Michael stirs and I motion with one finger for them to shush.
“can we see her?” cora asks, I nod then slowly pull Elizabeth off of my breast, she looks like she wants to kill me but then she sniffs and her eyes turn raspberry,
“theres no need to feel threatened these are your family members,” slowly her eyes turn green again. I nod and smile, I motion for cora to come over, she does and holds her hands out, I give Elizabeth to her and fix my dress,
“you can look now” I tell john. He does and smiles at cora, then at me, I smile back and look pointedly toward Michael
“thanks for bringing him, he must have been a pain in the butt though
“you have no idea” he sighs out. Cora goes still and her body goes rigid
“why are her eyes pink now?” she asks, I feel my cheeks flame so I try johns tactic. I look everywhere but cora and elixabeth,
“alex?” she warns
“she’s half sprite” I say fast. Cora’s mouth opens and john gaps, I look at Elizabeth in cora’s arms and extend my hands back out. Cora gives her back to me as if she were a cold. I narrow my eyes,
“don’t take it out on her for my stupid actions,” I say to her. My heart beat has finally returned to its normal pace and it beats thunderously in my chest. Why wont Michael wake up and deal with them, I’m too tired.


Well I fell really refreshed, or at least I did, I wake up to find cora in a defensive stance john with his mouth open and alex, who looks extremely tired, holding a pink eyed Elizabeth. It doesn’t take a genius to find out what happened, alex snaps her eyes to me
“can you please handle this?” she asks sounded defeated, and tired and a little edgy. I nod and she gives me a small thank ful smile, she puts Elizabeth in her plastic cubby and sinks down further into the bed. She turns around carefully trying not to jostle her stitches and in an instant I hear snoring. I look at cora who has her fists clenched and her breathing heavy,
“outside now” I say short and clipped. She narrows her eyes on me but stomps outside, john right after her. I walk around to the plastic cubby and kiss the now green eyed Elizabeth on the forehead. I carefully exit the room and close it quietly, I go to the waiting room to see cora pacing her fist under her chin. ‘her wolf is out of conrtol’ my wolf tells me ‘she wants blood, or sex, I don’t see either one a possibility so your going to have to fix it. Before she hurts what is ours’. I mentally scoff thanks for that captain obvious. She looks at me and narrows he reyes
“you’ve known all along haven’t you?” her voice is hoarse, I’m no longer talking to cora, but to her wolf. I let my wolf out,
“of course we have, there is nothing wrong with Elizabeth” we say simply, she growls and her fists clench
“everything is wrong with that alpha, that child is an abomination-“
“to who, to you or to me. To me that child is a beautiful innocent creature, she has the beauty of her mother but the mind of a wolf” we take a breath “you will not judge her for what she is, do you understand”. The wolf takes a breath and bows her head
“as you wish it alpha, it shall be done” I call my wolf back in and so does cora,
“sorry” she mutters,
“it’s ok, she just smells weird, that’s probably why your wolf doesn’t like her” I say simply. In the distance I can hear that screeching sound and give a small smile,
“now I would appreciate it if you could show me how to calm her down without scaring the crap out of her” I hold out my hand. She smiles and takes it, she jets down the hall to the elevator
“sure” she says brightly.


Can I at least get 10 minutes of sleep? Apparently not! She’s like an alarm with no snooze button, her cry shakes the walls of my inner ears, its not like I can cover them up because then I would be a bad mother. I am just about to get up when the door opens and she is silent. I sigh happily, I can finally go to sleep now,
“see you have to hold her and speak softly” she says, cora. Does that mean she’s no longer upset with Elizabeth or think badly of her? I opne one of my eyes and my hair falls over it, I can see through it. I see cora hold out her arms to Michael and he takes Elizabeth slowly. He looks down curiously and I can see her green eyes staring back at him the same way.
“hi there little princess” he syas softly, she makes a little sound and then her hands go out in front of her, she touches his face then keeps tapping it. Soon her arms go weak and I hear the smallest of yawns. The next thing I know Michael is settling her back into her plastic cubby. Her eyes are closed and her cheeks look plump.
“I did it” he whispers adoringly,
“I’m so proudof you” cora says her eyes bright with tears. This confuses me, why is she crying? Slowly I decide it’s time to stop the charade and I get up. I pretend to yawn and stretch as if my little 5 minute nap was enough. I look at her and blink,
“why are you crying?” I ask softly,
“we’re unable to have children” john says from the door. He has a pepsi in his hand that I so desperately want but I doubt that would agree with me. I look back at cora and see her wiping her nose, I feel bad for her, she has to be the comforter for us when no one is comforting her. I have an idea and I smile,
“maybe you could be her nanny” I say slowly not wanting to offend her. I remember the first time I saw her she was offended when I smiled at her.
“at the rate I’m going I doubt I’ll be able to get up in the morning, none the less go home, maybe you could watch her while I get some sleep” I say with a shrug. Her face kights up and she nods vigourously before she runs to the bed. Before she can gather me in a bear hug Michael holds her elbow, she looks back at him and smiles sheepishly
“sorry,” she mutters “forgot about your stitches”. I nod and smile, I can tell she still wants a hug so I hold out my arms, slowly she wraps her arms aaround me but keeps the loose.
“tahnk you and I’m sorry about earlier” she whispers
“your welcome and no problem” I pat her back and press the nurse button. Instantly a nurse comes,
“you need anything sweetheart?” she asks in a country voice,
“umm yes, I was trying to take a nap but I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep with her crying every 5 minutes, is there a place you could take her maybe?” I ask in the sweetest voice I could muster.
“yes we do” she says kindly, slowly and carefully she takes elizabeths cubby and carts her out the room. I let out a breath and look at Michael, he’s been so quiet and he still looks tired. I look at cora and john
“you think you guys could leave us alone?” I ask, they look at each other than at me, they nod. They leave with johns arm around her waist, I look at Michael who stands awkwardly by the window, it’s still raining but it looks like it’s calmed down. We need to get the hell away from here and soon.
“hey” I say to him, he looks at me his eyes wide “come” I say. He walks to the bed and looks down at me, I reach up and wrap my hand around his neck to pull him closer.
“you need to relax” I tell him then kiss him, he doesn’t respond at first but then he wrpas his arms around me and kisses me deeper. I’m the first to pull back because of lacking air,
“lay with me” I say pleadingly, he nods and I scoot over. I lay on my side and let his scent wrap over me in waves. He puts his arm over my waist and puts his hand over my stitched stomach lightly. It doesn’t hurt it feels comforting, to know he’s always there. I close my eyes and breath in and out. In seconds I’m sleeping.


We stayed like that, thw whole night. We didn’t move we only breathed, slept and stayed together. N the morning a nurse came in and woke me, I had to sign alexis’s discharge papers. I carefully got out of the bed careful not to jostle her. She remained zombie like, if it weren’t for her snoring and the movment of her chest I would assume she was dead. I groggily followed the nurse to the receptionist desk and filled out the papers. As soon as she gave me the ok I jogged to the nursery room. There she was bundled in pink footies she was still sleeping. And I swear I could hear a low whistle through the plexi glass. I smiled, she’s gonna be a snorer when she grows up wont she? My wolf asked, yep just like her mom, that reminds me. I jog back to room 303 to find alexis standing up and stretching,
“what are you doing!” I hiss at her, she turns around and smiles at me, she lifts her dress to her stomach, there where her stitches should be is a pink line. My eyes widen, she just smirked
“withdrawal” she said, then she walked into the bathroom and closed the door. I look on the bed and see all the iv’s she left there, they didn’t put her on the heart thingy though. Strange. She opens the door a little bit, “you wouldn’t happen to have an extra pair of clothes, would you?”
“yeah, they’re down in the car,”
“would you mind getting them for me?”
“oh, yeah sure” I forgot she would need clothes to leave, so I sped downstairs, I’m ready to leave this hospital.


I couldn’t believe it when I woke up and found my stitches gone, now I could take a shower and be clean and not have to be careful about everything. I look at myself in the mirror, my black and green striped hair was matted before I brushed it out with my fingers and washed it. My eyes healthy and brown shadowed by my long lashes, my little speckles of freckles smattered my nose and my cheeks like always. My lips weren’t chapped anymore, nut that was thanks to the hot shower I took. Everything else seemed normal of course my breasts were a little bit bigger- a knock interrupted my thoughts.
“cora gave me some of her clothes” Michael said, I opened the door and I took it,
“thanks,” I looked at the clothes. It was dark jeans and a baby blue peasant top. Nothing terrible, actually kind of cute, I still had my bra even though it was too tight on me and pushed my boobs up, it was still a bra. I put the shirt on and shimmied into the jeans. I still wasn’t fond of clothing, but this felt pretty good, I got out to see Michael standing with elixabeth in his arms bouncing up and down.. I crossed my rm and leaned on the door pane, he started to sing:
“old mcdonald had a farm eieio and on the farm he had a wolf eieio with a bark, bark here and a bark, bark there here a bark there a bark everywhere a bark, bark”
“I will never forget this you know?” I say from the door pane,he twirls around and Elizabeth giggles. I smile at her
“you like that?” I coo at her, Michael spins again and she giggles and flails her arms out in front of her. I walk over to him and pick her up in the air,
“oh you are a pretty girl” I coo at her, she kicks her legs and giggles. I put her in the crook of my arm and look back to the door where cora stands with her denim jacket and her bag.
“you ready to go?” she asks, before I can respond Michael wraps his arms around my waist
“yep, I’m ready to go home” I say as I lean back into him.


God it feels good to be back home, traveling for 6 days did a lot of damage on me. Good thing I got a god rest last night or else I would be cranky, and nobody wants a cranky wolf. I’m stretching and my bac pops, it doesn’t hurt, its rejuvenating pop that makes me aware that I still have a back. Alex pops her head above the car,
“a little help here”
“oh sorry” for a minute I almost forgot that the baby was in the car. She hadn’t been a problem the whole ride, I guess she just liked the air and the movement. I wonder what color her pelt is going to be when she first changes. I walk over to her and look down into green eyes, she smiles a toothless smile and then she does a weird sound that sounds like she’s coughing.
“she’s laughing” alexis mutters to me, then she reaches down and unbuckles Elizabeth. Today she’s dressed in a lime green footie that says ‘im not stubborn my way is better’. Something her mother decided to pick up at a baies’r’us, along with a stroller, diapers, clothes, and other baby essentials.
“hello there mommies big girl” she croons to her, Elizabeth puts her hand in her mouth then touches alexis’s face. Alexis smiles,
“that’s real nice, better than dog slobber” she tells me, I try really hard to not laugh but she just got baby spit on her face! How could I not laugh at that, john and cora are putting everything in the house, I undo the car seat and walk toward the house. Alexis walks right behind me, until we get to the door, she freezes in her tracks. Nature still growing beneath her feet she’s completely oblivious, she’s staring at Elizabeth and Elizabeth is staring at her. Alex shakes her head
“I’m going crazy” she mutters, then she smiles at me. I want to warn her that we are about to be barraged by the pack but she can probably smell them. We walk in the door and I put the carseat by the mahogany table that is also by the door. We walk into the living room and there my pack is, there eyes glowing as they stand in a semi-circle. Alex walks in and they growl at her, I look at her and see her eyes are purple
“enough!” they stop growling but there still is a low rumble.
“you are all being foolish, if you are going to judge Elizabeth then get out… now!”


Unbelievable, I knew there would be problems but I didn’t know all the wolves would act like this. So what if she smells funny, so what if her blood is not pure, they don’t treat half breeds like this, like outcasts.
“that thing is not to be allowed in this territory,” a redhead male grits out. I narrow my eyes at him but it is Michael who speaks up,
“that thing is daughter of the alpha, she is to be treated with all the respect you would give an alpha” his voice is rough and coarse, I realize that it’s his wolf who is telling him this.
“but alpha-“ the wolf is about to whine but Michael steps forward,
“are you disobeying a direct order from alpha?” it sounds like a threat, if he were a sprite I would be seriously afraid.
“no alpha” the redheads eyes go back to their normal green. He looks at me,
“sorry alex” he mutters,
“it’s fine. We had the same problem with cora” I reassure him. He perks up a bit and steps forward, I stop him with my hand. He frowns at me and I rip a small piece of clothing off of Elizabeth’s footie, I give it to him while keeping Elizabeth a safe distance away.
“sniff this then pass it down” I tell him, he raises it to his nose for a long sniff then passes it to a brunette who’s eyes still have not been completely muted. The cloth goes around the whole semi- circle. I let them relax for a little while, I expand Elizabeth a little bit
“you wanna hold her? While I go get the nursery set up because I completely doubt your ‘alpha’ thought to fix it” he nods eagerly and I purposely ignore Michaels glare. I know what he’s going to say ‘I was trying to find you, nothing was more important blah, blah, blah’ and right now I don’t want to hera it. The redhead holds his hands out and I shake my head,
“Like this” I show him how to hold his arms and then I lay her down in them, I turn on my heel and head to the door. I don’t say ‘bye’ or ‘I’ll be right back’ but I wish I did. I open the door just before the messenger knocks on the door, I don’t need to sniff him to know he’s a sprite. He’s dressed in red leaves, which is the normal attire for a messenger.
“are you alexis, the sprite of danhmor?” he asks, I shake my head. He holds out a piece of beige parchment and flies off. I look at the seal and my heart almost stops, it’s the seal of the sprites of flickenhammer. Our council. I don’t open it, instead I numbly close the door and walk back into the living room.
“lexy?” Michael asks, I don’t look at him just at the letter. How could they have known, that’s a stupid question of course my mother would tell them. She was a good little sprite always loyal and caring towards the council. Even when it came to her daughter and granddaughters safety. He walks toward me and looks at the paper.
“what is it alex?” he asks worried, instead of answering him I open the letter. The writing is so close to my mother’s that I want to cry but I know it isn’t because of the way the x is shaped in my name:
Dear Alexis, sprite of danhmor,
We have received information that a child is to be born to you. Congratulations to that, but it is the species of the child that we have been forced to inform you that there will be a meeting called when the child is at the age of 8. Until then she will have dominion over the weather and temperature of her birth city. The city of Helen. Much luck to you, see you in a decade!
From the council of flickenhammer.
I want to read it again, to say that my eyes are tricking me. But they aren’t this letter says until she reaches the age of 10. That means they don’t plan on keeping her around past then. I look to Elizabeth with tears in my eyes, my sweet beautiful baby. The one who told me I had a pretty house just before we walked in. I doubted It but now I’m sure of it, she spoke to me. With the letter still in my hand I walk to her, I don’t see the redhead or the brunette or Michael. Just her. I hold her in my arms and cry silently, maybe we could run away. They would never find us, we could make it. I don’t argue with myself, this is the right thing to do. We could make it, someplace where we will never be found.

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 05.12.2011

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